Tech Support Blog

Many have toiled over problems regarding how to handle young computer users. It is practically a requirement for children of all ages to use computers in our connected age. Their homework often requires it and even kids must complete many of their everyday tasks online now. However, Internet security has always been a difficult issue in regards to children on the computer. Parents have struggled for years to find a solution that will truly teach their children about proper use of the Internet and keep their PC safe in the process. Richard Shah and the MiiPC team at ZeroDesktop believe they’ve developed a product that can tackle these difficult issues. The MiiPC is an affordable desktop running on the Android operating system that comes with a mobile app that allows parents to monitor their children’s computer activity in real time.

“We all have kids of different ages,” Shah, the Chief Product Officer for MiiPC, told Rescuecom when asked what inspired the MiiPC idea. He explained that many people who ended up on the MiiPC team had tried many different options in handling their children’s online activity. Most of the attempted methods were about limiting their kids’ online use, but most of the time the children would simply “find a way around it.” Shah believes the use of MiiPC’s cloud-based monitoring app can fix that. “We’re really proud of the technology off the cloud that we’ve put in place,” he told us before explaining how the app allows parents to see how much time their kids spend on individual apps. The mobile app even lets parents lock off MiiPC apps remotely to make sure kids aren’t spending too much time on Angry Birds and not enough on their homework in Kingsoft Office.

Shah is hoping that parents will use the MiiPC as a tool not only to monitor their kids, but also to allow parents and children to understand the “addictiveness of the Internet,” as he put it. Shah informed Rescuecom that “the MiiPC isn’t designed as just a content-viewing device”, the way many low quality Android tablets aimed at children are these days. By optimizing the Android operating system for a desktop experience with full support for different monitors, keyboards and mice, Shah says ZeroDesktop designed the MiiPC to be a “content generation device”. He wants children to create, not simply consume.

Current plans for the MiiPC are for it to come with Android 4.2 out of the box and retail regularly at $150. If your children have ever caused you to have computer support issues, it may be worth your time to give it a look.

About RESCUECOM:

RESCUECOM provides computer repair and computer support, 24/7: Meeting every tech support need including data recovery, virus removal, networking, wireless services, and computer support for all brands of hardware and software. For computer support or information on products, services, or computer repair, visit http://www.rescuecom.com or call 1-800-RESCUE-PC.